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Questions and Answers: Honiton leasehold conveyancing

Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Honiton. Before I get started I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.

If the lease is registered - and almost all are in Honiton - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 62 years left on my lease in Honiton. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. On the whole a specialist should be helpful to carry out a search and prepare a report to be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Honiton.

Due to exchange soon on a leasehold property in Honiton. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they are sending me a report on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Honiton should include some of the following:

  • How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark
  • Setting out your legal entitlements in relation to common areas in the building.E.G., does the lease grant a right of way over an accessway or staircase?
  • Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?
  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change
  • An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
  • Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Honiton please ask your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Honiton

    • Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Honiton from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Honiton can be reduced if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
    • A minority of Honiton leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
  • If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
  • If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Organising a new share certificate can be a lengthy process and frustrates many a Honiton home move. If a duplicate share is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.
  • You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

    • When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Honiton what are the most frequent lease problems?

    Leasehold conveyancing in Honiton is not unique. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

    • A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the property
    • Insurance obligations
    • A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
    • Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

    A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. HSBC Bank, Barnsley Building Society, and TSB all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

    Honiton Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should consider before buying

      Who is in charge of the building? It would be prudent to discover if there are any onerous restrictions in the lease. By way of example plenty of leases prohibit pets being permitted in in a block in Honiton. If you like the propertyin Honiton yet your dog can’t move with you then you will be faced difficult decision. Most Honiton leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the building levied on behalf of the management company. Should you buy the apartment you will have to meet this contribution, normally quarterly throughout the year. This could be anything from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal grounds. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a large sum, say approximately £25-£75 but you need to enquire as sometimes it can be prohibitively expensive.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Honiton